Making connections with therivers of the Murray-Darling Basin

Talking fish

The rivers of the Murray-Darling Basin The rivers and creeks of the Murray Darling Basin flow through Queensland, New SouthWales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and South Australia. The 77 000km ofwaterways that make up the Basin link 23 catchments over an area of 1 million km2.

Each river has its own character yet these waters, the fish, the plants, and the people thatrely on them are all different.

The booklets in this series are about how the rivers, fish and fishing have changed. The mainstories are written from oral history interviews conducted with local fishers in 2010 11, andrelate individuals’ memories of how their local places have changed. They showcase threeways of knowing the Goulburn River: personal experience, scientific research and historicalresearch. Just as individual fishers do not always agree with one another, so theirunderstanding might not necessarily agree with current scientific information or historicalrecords. Similarly, specific items and events might be remembered differently by differentpeople. These varied perspectives show the range in views about fishing and the rivers, eachimportant in its own way. There are many other great stories out there about fishing in theMurray Darling Basin. These booklets are just the beginning.

Acknowledgements Goulburn

A very special thank you to Dr Wayne Atkinson, Ken Gilmore, Mick Hall, Donny Richter, KayeGibb, Gary Gibb, Don Collihiole, Geoff Vernon, Ron Bain, Jim Hanley, Hayley Purbrick, WallyCubbin, John Douglas, Daryl Sloane and Jody Liversidge who generously shared their storiesin this booklet.

Thanks also to Hartley and Noel Briggs, Doug and Laelia Rogers, Jenny Sheilds, John Koehn,David Chalmers, Rolf Weber, Roy Patterson, Ern Holloway, Keith Jones, John Mackenzie andRay Donald who gave generously of their time.

Advice and field support

Phil Duncan (Ngnulu Consulting), Fern Hames (Vic DSE), Pam Clunie (Vic DSE) and Steve Saddlier (Vic DSE).

Front page photographs (L R)

Source: Luke Pearce.Source: Seymour Anglers.Source: Seymour Anglers.Source: Seymour Anglers.Source: Jodi Frawley.

Back page fish images

All fish images: NSW DPI.

AuthorsJodi Frawley, Scott Nichols, Heather Goodall and Liz BakerCitation: Frawley, J., Nichols, S., Goodall, H. and Baker, E. (2011) Goulburn: Talkingfish making connections with the rivers of the Murray Darling Basin, Murray DarlingBasin Authority, Canberra.

Project steering committeeTerry Korodaj (MDBA), Cameron Lay (NSW DPI), Zafer Sarac(Qld DEEDI), Adrian Wells (MDBA Community StakeholderTaskforce), Peter Jackson (MDBA Native Fish Strategy advisor),Fern Hames (Vic DSE) and Jonathan McPhail (PIRSA).

Project TeamScott Nichols, Cameron Lay, Craig Copeland, Liz Baker (NSW DPI);Jodi Frawley, Heather Goodall (UTS); Zafer Sarac, Greg Ringwood(Qld DEEDI); Hamish Sewell (The Story Project); Phil Duncan (NgnuluConsulting); Terry Korodaj (MDBA); Fern Hames, Pam Clunie,Steve Saddlier (Vic DSE); Jonathan McPhail, Virginia Simpson(PIRSA); Will Trueman (researcher).

ISBN 978 1 921914 33 1

©Murray Darling Basin Authority, 2011Published by the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA), Canberra.

Graphical and textual information in the work (with the exception ofphotographs and the MDBA logo) may be stored, retrieved and reproducedin whole or in part, provided the information is not sold or used forcommercial benefit and its source (Murray Darling Basin Authority, TalkingFish Project) is acknowledged. Reproduction for other purposes isprohibited without prior permission of the Murray Darling Basin Authorityor the copyright holders in the case of photographs. To the extentpermitted by law, the copyright holders (including its employees andconsultants) exclude all liability to any person for any consequences,including but not limited to all losses, damages, costs, expenses and anyother compensation, arising directly or indirectly from using this report (inpart or in whole) and any information or material contained in it. Thecontents of this publication do not purport to represent the position of theMurray Darling Basin Authority. They are presented to inform discussion forimproved management of the Basin's natural resources.

Research and editing by the NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSWDPI) and the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). The views expressed inthis booklet are not necessarily those of the NSW DPI, UTS or other projectpartners.

The MDBA acknowledges the intellectual property rights of the peoplewhose stories are featured in this publication.

Aboriginal readers are warned that this publication may contain thenames and images of Aboriginal people who have since passed away.

… the water was clear; we could see the fishswimming about; the banks of the river were solid

with trees. We used to fish beneath its shade.The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), Friday 8 October 1937, page 12

The Goulburn River’s cold, clear waters rushwestward down from the steep hills andmountains of the Great Dividing Range towardSeymour. The river then turns northward andmeanders through hills and plains until the rivermeets the Murray upstream of Echuca. These arethe traditional lands of the Taungurung, Bangerangand Yorta Yorta peoples. However, the GoulburnRiver today is not the river the Taungurung,Bangerang and Yorta Yorta once knew and fished.

Since Europeans arrived the health of the river andits fish has been shaped by the people who cameto live there and the industries that developed.The gold rushes and grazing, dryland farming andhorticulture all needed different types of workers,bringing new people with new needs to the riverand new ways to catch fish. Water is now stored inLake Eildon and controlled by Goulburn Weir atNagambie. Flows peak in summer to meetirrigation needs and drops off in winter/spring.

These changes mean there are a lot less fish thanthere were. Before the turn of the twentiethcentury, there are many stories of catchingMacquarie perch, Murray cod, trout cod, blackfishand yellowbelly. There were no carp, no redfinand no trout. Now, there are very few Macquarieperch and no trout cod.

There are still those who love the river and wholove to fish the river. Their stories are part of thebigger story of changes to the Goulburn and itsfish. They help us remember that the river we seenow is not what the river was and can be again.People want to talk about a future for theGoulburn and their visions for a healthy river thatis, once again, full of fish.

Introducing the river and its people Beginnings Dr Wayne Atkinson, a Yorta Yorta man, tellsthe creation story of the Goulburn andMurray Rivers:

Baiame created the river by sending hiswoman down from the high country with heryam stick to journey across the flat andwaterless plain. Baiame then sent his giantsnake along to watch over her. She walkedfor many weary miles, drawing a track in thesand with her stick, and behind her came thegiant snake following in and out and allabout, making the curves of the river bedwith his body. Then Baiame spoke in a voiceof thunder, from up high. Lightening flashedand rain fell, and water came flowing downthe track made by the woman and thesnake.14

Allowidgee, pictured fishing using a bark canoe andreed spear in a way common to Yorta Yorta men. He isshown here at Maloga on the nearby Murray River.Photo source: State Library of South Australia, PRG422.3.704.

The arrival of the Europeans Hamilton Hume1 and William Hovell2 passedthrough the Goulburn River area in 1824,seeking a passage from Sydney to SpencerGulf. The team camped near the present siteof Seymour for two days at Christmas ‘inorder that they might avail themselves of thefine fish which abound in its waters, as wellas refresh the cattle.’3

Early British settlement followed the rivers.The first grazing properties were set up onthe banks of the Goulburn in the early 1830s.Then gold rushes of the 1850s bought many

new people to northern Victoria. Chinesepeople joined diggers and Aboriginal peopleand, by the 1860s, new towns supported thesmaller yeoman farms championed by thegovernment.

Problems were emerging however frommining activities. The shaft mines that hadbeen sunk in the Upper Goulburn causedheavy metals and silt to be washed into theriver. One old timer lamented in 1896:

When my husband and I came here first thewater was clear; we could see the fishswimming about; the banks of the river weresolid with trees. We used to fish beneath itsshade. The goldmines did this, they cut thetimber down for firewood and pit props, andbushfires killed the trees on the mountains,and then the floods came and tore the riverbanks to pieces; and you see what followed.4

Boating on the river at Echuca (date unknown).Image source: Wangaratta Library.

By the 1890s the lower reaches of the riverwere supporting production of wheat, fruits,wine grapes and a wide variety of fodder crops.Grazing, dairy farms, piggeries and butterfactories continued to flourish in the upperreaches.5 However, the decades of land clearingincreased siltation and the altered flow of theriver changed the habitat for native fish.

In the twentieth century, the river was regularlystocked with non native fish, such as trout, andcarp arrived.

The Goulburn became a popular spot forpeople, including Aboriginal people, to fish forthe introduced trout and redfin. It remains oneof the most popular inland angling spots fornative fish as well, including Murray cod,yellowbelly, Macquarie perch and blackfish.

Catching a large Murray cod is a memorable momentfor any fisher, and Jody Liversidge is proud of thisbeautiful 35kg fish she caught in the Goulburn River in2006. Photo source: Jody Liversidge.

For nearly 90 years, Ken Gilmore has lived by andfished in the Goulburn River. Photo source: Ken Gilmore.

Mick Hall is a passionate and competitive fly fisher.Photo source: Mick Hall.

Donny Richter is teaching his grandson the art offishing, not just how to fish. Photo: Jody Frawley.

Kaye and Gary Gibb are members of the SeymourAngling Club. Photo: Jody Frawley.

1887

Ken Gilmore – True story! I’m not telling you a lie!Ken Gilmore was born in1922. He and his ninebrothers and sisters wereraised at Hughendon, agrazing and dairy farmand the only property leftin the district that has asettler’s title on it fromthe 1860s.

Catch all the fish you want Both the Rubicon and Goulburn riversborder the farm and were close enough tothe homestead that the family fishedregularly along its banks.

We used to swim in the river every dayduring the summertime. And we’d all gofishing, especially if there was a thunderstorm approaching. We used to go downarmed with worms and so forth and we’dget onto a shoal of bream. We’d fill a sugarbag in about half an hour and what wecouldn’t eat we used to let go because wedidn’t have any refrigeration back in thosedays. Therefore we weren’t greedy, but youcould catch all the fish you wanted.

‘Bream’ were what Ken’s family calledMacquarie perch. Others knew them asblack bream, Murray bream, white eye orblackfish. They were plentiful in theGoulburn River when Ken was growing up.They have since become very rare. Anotherlocal fisher, Jim Hanley, also rememberscatching them.

The Macquarie perch have been gone formany years. I’ve never seen one come out ofthe river upstream from Nagambie Weir. Butmy father used to catch them and Macquarieperch are still locally living in the HughesCreeks.

Kids going fishing With a big family of cousins all living locally,the Gilmore kids would often hang outamongst the shady trees lining the rivers.

When they were sent to go rabbiting, theywould take their rods along. And a game ofcricket on the flat for some of the kidsmeant that others could throw a line inwhile they waited for their turn at the bat.Ken recalls the fish they caught:

There were all types: not many yellowbelly,compared with the cod and the bream. Theywere the main ones. But there were the odd

yellowbelly. Blackfish too. We used to likethat then, little ‘greasys’ we used to callthem. They were very sweet. Nice little fishto eat.

Ken remembers that other fish had to behunted in the off river areas.

They used to get catfish in the old days. Inthe lagoons mainly. They weren’t in the river.We weren’t very fond of them, though.Some people like them. I didn’t like the lookof them. They’re horrible, horrible lookingthings.

Melbourne railway workers used to regularly cometo Hughendon for week long spells of camping andfishing. Ken remembers:We got a lot of people fromMelbourne, year after year. Some came every yearfor 50 years. They used to pitch their tents on theGoulburn, and then they bought their caravans.Photo source: Ken Gilmore.

Photo source: Ken Gilmore

Catching fish? Like many people along the Goulburn River,Ken saw all sorts of ways to fish: rods andreels, handlines, gill nets, drum nets, wirenetting and set lines.

My uncle used to have a property up hereand he had a set line. He was pretty old andhe used to like a fish and one day he left hisline in with a worm on it, and he went backthe next day and there was no sign of a line.He said ‘Where the hell has that line got to?’Anyway, he had a look around, he found theline, he gave it a pull, the next thing a wildduck flew up, out of the blackberry and he’dcaught a wild duck on the hook with a worm.True story! I’m not telling you a lie!

Ken remembers the fun he used to havewith his friends when they would go fishing.

A Yugoslav friend gave me some lines andthey had little bells on the top of them. I wasa bit of a devil. I used to ring these bellsmyself and they used to come racing up tosee what I had on my line. Next thing, theywere all sitting beside me because I wasgetting all the bites and it was only meringing the bells!

The coming of the cold water The original weir on the Goulburn River,Sugarloaf Reservoir, was built between 1915and 1929. During construction the weir hadto be drained on at least two occasions,generating ‘blackwater’ events and leadingto massive fish kills.

After being modified in 1935, it wasenlarged in 1955 and renamed Lake Eildon.It filled in one year with the 1956 floods.This new dam serviced the Goulburn Valleyirrigators. It also kept the river levelsconstant with water from the cold depths ofthe lake.

Ninety two year old Ron Bain remembersthese changes.

Terrific changes! The biggest change waswhen they built the weir. See they had asmall wall, and it operated for quite a fewyears and then when they built the biggerone, it lowered the flow of water down theriver considerably. And then of course itlowered the temperature of the water; andthe cod didn’t like that. It used to be abeautiful river, you know. It used to get a bitof a flood every two or three years. And ofcourse it left lagoons, so there would be nicefish in the lagoons as well. But all that’sgone, there’s none of that now.

Macquarie perch (Macquaria australasica macca, Murray bream,black bream, mountain perch, white eye, blackfish)

Photo: Luke Pearce.

Medium sized fish: can reach 46cm, but usuallyless than 35cm and 1kg

Found in the cool water in the upper reaches ofthe Murray Darling in Victoria, NSW and theACT

Spawn in October December when adults moveinto tributaries and spawn at the foot of pools

Eat shrimp and small, bottom dwelling aquaticinsects

Potential threats include interactions with troutand redfin, sedimentation, removal of riparianvegetation, barriers to migration and coldwater pollution

Listed as ‘Threatened’ in Victoria, and as‘Endangered’ by the Commonwealth

Lake Eildon changed the river of Ken’s youth.He was used to swimming in the river butonce the weir went in, it was too cold. Kenalso remembers how the weir changed theway the river flooded.

As soon as the weir was put in, the waterwent down to about 10 degrees. You couldn’tswim in it. You’d freeze to death if youjumped in. You’d soon jump out again. In theold days, the floods would be up and gone ina couple of days but when they filled the weirup in ’56, when we had floods here theywould last about a month. Well, it probablydid affect a lot of fish. It happened after theybuilt the weir.

Don Collihole agrees with Ken that the coldwater changed the habitat for the native fish.

Pre ’56, they used to catch heaps of coddown here. And then they finished Eildon, thewater got that cold coming from down thebottom, the cod just couldn’t breed.

Don’s mate Geoff Vernon, born in 1950,represents a generation of fishers that hasnever known the Goulburn in its naturalstate. He caught the introduced trout, ratherthan the native cod, Macquarie perch oryellowbelly. He remembers:

Mostly trout, ‘cause in those days, it was apretty cold river and that’s about all therewas around.

A river of weirs In 1884, MLA Alfred Deakin led a ‘RoyalCommission into Irrigation’ and travelled toCalifornia and India to investigate infrastructureand schemes. Australia’s first major structure wasbuilt on the Goulburn River in 1887. This weirformed Lake Nagambie, which became a famousfishing spot for introduced redfin as well as fornative fish. By 1893 the weir’s channel linked up400 miles of gravity fed reticulation on thewestern side of the river.5

Sugarloaf Reservoir was built between 1915 and1929, to increase the storage capacity for the area.Bigger changes were afoot in the 1950s when largedams were engineered to mitigate the impact offlooding and protect communities against drought.In 1955 the new dam Lake Eildon was opened,replacing the reservoir.

Unlike towns further downstream, the dam helpedthe Goulburn River district to escape the worst ofthe huge flood of 1956.

An old postcard of the Goulburn Weir(date unknown). Image source: Wangaratta Library.

Cold water pollution Lake Eildon is a large impoundment (3 334GL)

In such large, deep impoundments the watercolumn can form distinct layers (‘thermalstratification’) with a layer of cold waterforming at the bottom of the dam

The water is released from the deep parts ofthe dam, which means the water that flowsdownstream is colder than would occurnaturally

This is known as ‘cold water pollution’ (CWP).The impacts of the cold water extend at least100km downstream11 and this stretch of riveris dominated by cold water species such astrout

CWP can change the types of plants andanimals that will live in the affected areas ofthe river. It can also reduce growth rates infish and delay or prevent their successfulspawning or recruitment. This can lead toincreased vulnerability and reduced survival9

Lake Eildon. Photo: Fern Hames.

1853SS Mary Ann makes first trip from Goolwa to Moama

1860A dozen steamboats working the river and its tributariesRiver transport

Mick Hall – Fly flicker extraordinaireMick Hall was the firstAustralian to receivethe prestigiousSportsmanship Awardat the ‘One Fly’ eventin Jackson’s Hole,Wyoming, USA, in1996.

Photo source: Mick Hall.

That’s a long journey from Relubbus on theRiver Hayle in England where he was born in1941.

Fishing got hold of me He got an early start with trout fishing byexploring the river that ran alongside thefamily cottage. He was four! He came toAustralia in 1949 and as a teenagerreacquainted himself with trout in the riversnear Melbourne. At fourteen, he says, hewas hooked:

That’s when it got hold of me. You know,that disease – it’s lasted all my life. I’veplayed around with other stuff but troutfishing’s been my love.

As a young man Mick lived on the outskirtsof Melbourne, so he and his mates couldhead up to the river at a moment’s notice.

They even took mid week jaunts by skippingout of work early some days and driving thehour and half to the Goulburn. They wouldfish for a few hours and be back on the roadby 9.00pm. At the weekends they’d camp.

I first started coming up in the ‘50s as ateenager. I had a car and couple of matesand we’d do the typical thing. Camp on theriver, drink too much, fish too much, stay upall night, drive back home the next day, go toa disco or something, then off to work on theMonday morning. But every weekend weused to come away fishing.

Fishing in the Goulburn River in the earlydays meant chasing whatever was in thewater. But Mick decided early on that it wasfly fishing that was worth pursuing.

And I always wanted to learn to fly fish. Icould see there was a lot of merit becausethere were so many challenges in it. We wereat the Thornton Bridge and we’d had a bigday fishing since very early in the morning.This guy came up the river and he’s flicking afly line around. I said ‘there’s some the otherside. I’ve been watching them rising’. And hegoes and he catches them. My jaw just wentba boom; ‘I gotta do this. I just gotta dothis!’ I’ve been a ‘fly flicker’ every since.

Bill Austin giving other would be fly fishers a distancecasting demonstration at Eildon in 1945. He ishandling 30 yards of line with an Australian madecane rod. Photo source: Mick Hall.

Reading the river Trout fishing in the Goulburn River area andin Lake Eildon is mostly done off the banks,rather than from in boats. For Mick, findingthe perfect little stream where trout livedwas a matter of tramping around the upperreaches of the river and learning as muchabout trout habitat as he could.

Mick remembers that in the 1960s, as it istoday, it was the colour of the water thatwas an important indicator.

The ‘red tag’ (left) is a classic fly used to catch trout. Flies aredesigned to mimic the food that each fish species chases.Mayflies like the Aussie March Brown (Atalophlebia australis),right, are favourites of both trout and native fish.Photos: Luke Pearce.

You could read the rivers by the colours. Inthe smaller mountain streams, you’d seevarious colours of khaki that reflected backoff the bottom and the deeper the colour, thedarker the water, the deeper the water andthat’s where you’d find the fish. Especially ifit had surface movement on it like bubblelines or where the water was tumbling a littlebit. Because that gave protection for the fish.They couldn’t be seen from above by thebirds. When you got good at it, you really didget the results. But it took time.

The lure of the fly Fly fishing depends on the artificial flylooking tasty to a fish: the best ones look likethe insects the fish eat. Mick has spent manyhours with feathers, yarn, twine and hessianthreads copying what he has seen in theriver.

Through the spring and summer months wealways get a lot of insect hatches, a lot ofterrestrial stuff; from beetles through tograsshoppers, ants, this sort of thing thatwere on the water all the time, as well as ouraquatic sources; be they stone flies, be theycaddis, midge or mayfly. It’s all there, andwe’ve seen their major occurrences, and thenthe fish feeding on them. And from thiswe’ve learnt more about the bugs and theirhabits and what they needed. And just howvulnerable they are to changes in the system.

Cod visit when its warm enough While he might have chased troutthroughout his life, Mick was also on thelookout for native fish and how theyinteracted with the introduced species.

By the time Mick had started fishing herethe cooling of the Goulburn River hadalready changed the habitat for native fish.

Aboriginal Fishing gearOver the nineteenth century Aboriginal peoplecontinued to live along the Goulburn River.Women carried fish hooks made from musselshells and used kidney fat for attracting the fish.Hooks were attached to coil made from river reedand cast into the river or trolled behind boatsaround deeper holes in the river. Short spearswere used for diving and longer spears were usedfrom canoes.

Aboriginal men also used a spear set aside entirelyfor killing fish. At five feet long and an inch thickthe spear was not thrown, but used as a lance.Peter Beveridge, observing fishing in Victoria andthe Riverina in the 1880s, noted: … they select astretch of shallow water, full of reeds and otheraquatic plants, over which the wary fishermanpropels his canoe …. Every now and then he thruststhe plain end of the stick sharply to the bottom,thereby disturbing the feeding fish. As a matter ofcourse they rush away from the disturbanceshaking the plants in their hurry, which at once tellsthe keen eyed fisherman the position of his prey'.6

Different sorts of nets were used for differentcreatures from the river: some for Murray craysand others for catching birds, including ducks. Netsninety metres long and one and a half metres widewere weighted on the bottom with clay and hadfloats made from reeds.

These nets were drawn through the water by themen, and the women and children sorted andpicked the catch of cod, silver and golden perch,catfish, blackfish and turtles.

Native fish, such asMurray cod, can alsobe caught on a fly. Theflies that attract nativefish are different tothose that attracttrout. Photo: Luke Pearce.

We don’t get a lot of the cod and yellowbellyright up in the Upper Goulburn to LakeEildon. They may come up and visit, duringthe summer months when the water’s warmenough for them. As a matter of fact, thelittle blackfish that we’ve got around hereare in absolute abundance. There’s lots ofthem. And so, we found there’s very littleconflict there ‘cause the high mountainstreams are the ones that the trout really doprefer but sometimes they’ll move down towhere the cod are.

Mick points to the use of heavy machineryand farm chemicals as being a concern forfish. As well as removing snags, machinery isalso being used to remove invasive weedslike willows from some areas along the riverbank. Mick agrees that governments arenow doing a better job than before, butthinks authorities still need to be vigilantabout other animals that may be affected.

This is a little bit controversial, because up onthe Rubicon where they’re doing the removal ofwillows, I found two dead platypus. One wasbadly decayed and the other one wasn’t; it wasa young animal. I don’t know if it was becausethey’d been dislodged, or if it was the poisonsthey were using, whether it was contractordoing it, I don’t know. Maybe the deaths ofplatypus are not related to these works, but Imean, they just go in and blast away ateverything.

Willows

Willows being removed – one control option.Photo: Helen Shimitras.

Willows were planted in south eastern Australia tocontrol bank erosion, particularly in the 1950s – ‘70s.They are now widespread in permanently wet orseasonally waterlogged sitesWillows are invasive and are spread both by seed andas fragments which travel downstreamAlthough some fish will shelter under willows, willowscan dominate riparian areas, displacing nativespecies. They create dense shade and producesignificant leaf fall in autumn, which depletesdissolved oxygen levels and changes the food supplywithin the aquatic ecosystemWillows can also modify channel shape and capacity,divert flow, accumulate fine silt and contribute toerosionIf willows are being removed, it is important toensure they are replaced progressively with nativetrees. The complete removal of all trees overhangingthe river will result in water temperatures that arehigher in summer and lower in winter and alsoincrease native fish exposure to predators

Little natives in mountain streamsSeveral species of smaller native fish occur in coldermountain streams, including recreational species suchas blackfish (slipperies, muddies) and others, such asgalaxias (several species of Galaxias, also known asjollytail).13

Barred galaxias. Photo: Gunther Schmida (Photo source: MDBA).

Several species of Galaxias, with a maximum size ofbetween 15 20cm but more likely around 8 10cm

Barred galaxias (pictured) are only found in theheadwaters of the Goulburn River. They wereseverely affected by the Victorian Black Saturdayfires. Remaining populations were kept in aquariauntil vegetation in the catchment grew back, thenthey were released back into the wild

Barred galaxias are a relatively long lived fish – up to13 years old!

Barred galaxias are listed as ‘Threatened’ nationally

Mountain galaxias lay eggs on the underside ofstones in the head of pools and riffles. These fish arethought not to migrate, and have a small homerange of about 19m

Mountain galaxias are the only native fish found inthe alpine zone above the snowline during winter

Donny Richter – Changing habitsDonny was born in 1948 andraised in Melbourne. He wasapprenticed as a painter anddecorator and as a young manmoved around northernVictoria. He lived in Boort inthe Mallee and then atBarmah on the Murray River.After a stint in Geelong, hereturned to Shepparton,

finally putting, as he says, ‘a big taprootdown’ in 1983 at Murchison. His three acreblock sits high on the bank of the Goulburn –plenty of room for a big shed that houses hisboats, caravan, multiple fishing rods,hundreds of lures and half a dozen codtrophies.

A cod would live there His love of fishing started out small, learningto fish with his family.

My father was a builder and he was alwaysworking, and only during holiday timeswould he take me and my younger brothersfishing. As life went on, I went out on myown 16, 17, 20 fishing, and bought myfirst boat. It cost me $290. Little six horsepower Chrysler motor, and from there it’sjust grown, mate. Bigger and better.

As a young man, Donny and his mates wouldhead out on camping trips on the river.Finding the right spot was crucial to makingit a good fishing weekend.

Well, first, we’d like plenty of shade. Andwe’d set the camp up there, but then, whenwe go down the river in the boat, we’d lookfor spots where we thought ‘a cod would livethere’, like an old, dead tree in the water or aheap of branches laying around, or a bit of aswirl under a log and a big, hard clay bank –we’d always look them out.

People and towns along the river Northern Victoria has always been one of the moreheavily populated rural areas of Australia. Many ofthe townships along the river began with an inn anda punt, assisting travellers with livestock andproviding services to the gold fields from the 1850s.Alexandra, Seymour, Nagambie, Mooroopna andShepparton all grew in conjunction with the changesin surrounding industries: grazing, dairying, mining,forestry and agriculture. The river was vital for thegrowth of these places.

From the 1870s rail links to Melbourne bought manymore people. In the 1920s, Shepparton PreservingCompany and Ardmona Cannery capitalised onproductive local fruit growing and as a result largenumbers of seasonal workers came and went fromthe area.10

Trips to the river for picnics and fishing were common forAboriginal peoples, townies, farmers and itinerant workersalike. Photo source: Jim Hanley.Donny’s workshop. Photo: Jodi Frawley.

We’d just catch them all In these early days Donny and his mateswould catch as many fish as they could.

But back in the old days we’d do everythingwrong. We’d put in cross lines and springersand set lines that we would leave overnight.We could have up to 40 springers in andcatch 10 fish. A couple of cross lines and youcould get up to 20 cod at a time.

Big catches of fish meant big stories at thepub.

We’d just catch them and had to bring themhome and get in the pub and brag. ‘Oh, wecaught this many fish’. What we did it for: Idon’t know. You’d give them away or they’dgo rotten.

How to fish - properly All this changed in 1977 when, at age 27,Donny met his mate Noel Anderson.

Noel taught me a lot about fishing andcatching cod and lure fishing. And, yeah, Iwould like to say ‘Thank you, Noel’ ‘cause hewas the one who put me on the straight andnarrow, instead of springers and cross lines.He knew all the tricks, he knew where to putlines in, where to fish and all that stuff. Hewas the one that really showed me how tofish – properly.

For twenty years, Donny and Noel wentfishing once a month.

Donny intends to teach his six year oldgrandson, Charlie, everything that Noeltaught him.

Well, at the moment, I’m taking my six yearold grandson fishing. I’m not going to teachhim the old ways. I want to teach Charliewhat I’ve been taught for the futuregeneration. What he learns from me, it’llhelp him and maybe he can help someoneelse later on.

Of crays and carp Over the road from Donny’s place is a steepclay bank that slides down into the waters ofthe Goulburn: a perfect spot for Murraycrayfish. When he’s up for a feed, Donnymoseys over to the river and drops in a netwith a punched tin of dog food for bait.

In front of my place you can put a net in toget the Murray crays. I’ll pull that net up, andI’ll say ‘I’ll have you and you’, and the rest Itip back into the river. Why be greedy?They’re always there. Why take 20, when youonly want two.

Murray crays (Euastacus armatus Spiny cray)

Photo: NSW DPI.

Reported to grow to 3kg and are the 2ndlargest freshwater crayfish in the world

Confined to River Murray and tributaries, andfound only in the main channels

Prefers cool, strong flowing water, with higheroxygen content

Active through the coldest months fromMayto October

Slow growing: 5 10g in 1st year, may reach 40gafter 2 3 yrs

Breeding weight is 200 250g, which takesabout 6 9 years

Breed late autumn and early winter, carryingeggs (‘berried up’) until October

Steady decline in numbers since 1940s

Continuing reduction in size in NSW since1960s

Carp have been a big problem in theGoulburn River over the years. Donnyremembers a time when the river wasboiling with them.

I can remember at the Weir, you’d look over,at the bottom of the spillway there would bethousands and thousands of carp. The waterwas just bubbling with them. Years ago,you’d go up the river and there’d be carp onthe river bank. People have caught them andthrow ‘em up there and they’d stink.

Donny thinks things have changed over thedry years of the drought. He hears differentideas from his fishing mates as to why thecarp might not be as plentiful as before.

The carp seem to be gone. I don’t knowwhy. There are lots of theories; they reckonthe cod are eating them, but then, I don’tknow if the water might be getting too coldfor them and they’re heading further north,I don’t know.

Carp respond quickly to favourable conditions.Photo: Nathan Reynoldson.

Can carp survive in mud or salt water?No, carp cannot live in mud. They can tolerate a widerange of environmental conditions, including very lowdissolved oxygen levels and half seawater salinity.

Where do carp prefer to live?Carp are commonly found in slow or still water, with asilty substrate and shallow vegetated habitats. Theseprovide optimal spawning and recruitment conditions.Carp prefer floodplain habitats during floods andinundated backwaters appear to be zones of highrecruitment.

How long does a carp live?Carp are a long lived species and they can be prolificspawners when conditions are suitable.

Are carp eggs carried by bird’s feet and able tosurvive to be fertilised at any time?No. Carp eggs only survive out of water for a short timeand are usually attached to plants. Unfertilised eggssoon die.

Do carp undermine river banks and cause trees to fallinto rivers?Carp feed by sucking sediment into their mouth,removing food (eg, insect larvae, crustaceans andsome plant material), and expelling sediment outthrough their gills. There is no evidence that theyundermine banks.

Do carp eat native fish and eggs?Carp may eat small numbers of eggs or larvae butthese are likely to be taken incidentally. Carp arethought to increase turbidity and to compete withnative fish for space and food.12

Carp - FAQs (Cyprinus carpio European carp, koi carp)

Photo: Gunther Schmida

When were carp introduced?While various different genetic strains of Carp havebeen introduced into Australia, it wasn't until the'Boolara' strain was released near Mildura in the early1960s that Carp began to spread widely. By 1974 theyhad spread through much of the southern part of theMurray Darling Basin, although weirs andimpoundments were acting as barriers in some of thelarger rivers.12

When did carp appear in the Goulburn?In the Goulburn system, carp were recorded in theSevens Creeks in the early 1970s, although GooramFalls appeared to represent a barrier to limitupstream spread. By the mid 1970s, they wererecorded mid way up the Goulburn system in areassuch as Loch Garry, Lake Nagambie, the Warangachannel and Lake Cooper. By early 1980s, carp hadbeen recorded as far upstream as Lake Eildon. Theyare now widespread within the catchment, althoughnumbers have fluctuated at times.

Kaye and Gary Gibb - From the ocean to the riverKaye and Gary wereboth born in the early1950s, but grew upfishing in completelydifferent parts ofAustralia. Kaye learnt tofish doggy mackeral off

the Queensland coast near Townsville; whileGary took day trips to the Wakool River withhis Dad and brothers.

Kaye came to Victoria in 1973, but leftfishing aside for most of her life, taking it upagain when she met Gary ten years ago.

I got tangled up with Gary. He was a keenfisherperson and said if I wanted to go outwith him I could go. I said ‘Oh, yeah, I used tofish quite a bit at home’. So, we startedgoing out with the Seymour Angling Clubonce a month.

Fishing – you never forget how It was a bit like riding a bike; a skill that Kayehad not forgotten – It’s just a refresher moreso than anything else. Kaye did have to adaptwhat she knew about ocean fishing, andGary taught her what to look out for out onthe river.

It’s a different type of fishing to the seafishing. There are different baits because upNorth you did mainly lure fishing for the fishwe caught. We use different lures and baitsdown here for the different types of fish. Ihad to learn where to go, what snags lookgood.

Gary and Kaye like to fish in the lakes aroundthe Goulburn River. Fishing from the boat inthe stiller waters gives them the opportunityto use berley to attract the fish to wherethey are. Gary explains:

Berley is used more in the lakes because,otherwise, if you’re in the river system, it justflows away too quick and you’re just feedingthe fish or attracting fish further down theriver. Unless you’ve got your own little berleybombs which hang over the side of yourboat. We use berley pellets that are likechicken pellets – all ready made up, ready togo. Sometimes we add our own littleingredients – fish oils or ground up baits. Justto give it that smell and to add as anattractant.

Kaye and Gary both like catching a big codwhen they are out on the river.

The ultimate in fishing probably is to catch acod. They’re a very lazy fish to catch though.They’re big, like a big log just pulling, or a bigsnag or something. Very good when you doget a nice one.

Jim Hanley, another local fisher, likes to fish for cod inLake Mulwala. Photo source: Jim Hanley.

One of the changes that Kaye and Gary haveseen is the ban on trout cod in Victoria.Since this ban was introduced, they, likemany other fishers on the Goulburn andother nearby rivers, have seen a return ofthe trout cod to their regular catches.

We do sometimes catch a few trout cod butbecause they’re a protected species we’vegot to let them go. You think you’ve got alovely fish on, until you bring it up and say‘well, oh, I’ve got to let this one go’. Beautifullooking fish, but of course, I can understandwhy they have to let them go.

Fishing weekends away The Gibbs rarely miss the Seymour AnglingClubs’ monthly weekends away. They set outon Friday and set up camp, usually on theriverbank. The competition starts on Saturdaymorning and finishes on Sunday with a weighin for first, second and third prizes. They fishfor six to eight hours each day and either usekeeper nets or photograph the fish so theycan release them.

Different places they visit mean different fish.

There’s quite a few silver perch in theGoulburn but we’re not allowed to keepthem. You can go as far as Yarrawonga orMulwala, Echuca and back down towardsCobram. When we go to Nagambie, there’squite a few cod. We’ve got one place, that’sa good little Murray cod place, close toSeymour. We get permission off the ownersand go down there. Some of our membershave caught cod and most of them havebeen released because they want to keepthem in the river here.

These cod, caught in 2006, were the first cod JimHanley and his fishing mates had caught from theGoulburn River in 30 years. Two weighed in at 8pounds and two at 6 pounds. Photo source: Jim Hanley.

Fishing in the dry Since Kaye started fishing again, drought anddryer rivers that have been the norm. Kayehas noticed that the fish can adapt to thewide swings in the water levels associatedwith droughts and floods.

She says:

They don’t seem to breed as much in adrought because they know that there’s notas much water, there’s not as much feed.Since the 2010 floods, there’s more feedaround, so, of course, they’re going toflourish more.

Trout cod (Maccullochella macquariensis blue nosed cod,

blue cod)

Photo: Gunther Schmida.

Large deep bodied fish, growing to 85cm and16kg, but more mostly less than 5kg

Associated with deeper water, pools withcover such as logs and boulders and fasterflowing water

They move less than 500m from their homesnag, with occasional explorations of 20 60kmbefore returning home

Adhesive eggs probably laid on hard surfaces

Eat other fish, yabbies, aquatic insect larvae,and shrimp

Potential threats include interactions withtrout and redfin and habitat modification suchas desnagging, sedimentation, removal ofriparian vegetation, barriers to migration andcold water discharges from large dams

Listed as ‘Endangered’ in Victoria, NSW and bythe Commonwealth

Timber in the river Kaye has also noticed that the long dry spellfollowed by the rising waters of the last yearhas caused many more red gums than usualto topple over.

Just recently, there’s been quite a fewtrees from the bank fallen into the river,and I know that’s good for the fish, but, Ithink, you’ve still got to clean the riversout a little bit to let the water flow.

Ken Gilmore is another fisher who thinksthat the riverbanks are different than theyonce were:

Black wattle. They used to fall in a lot.One of the engineers in Alexandra, he hadthe idea he was going to clear the banksto stop the trees falling in the river, but noone agreed to that. There’s gum treeswhose root systems seem to be weakenedand they seem to be falling in more thanwhat they used to. About 15 acres of landwent in up here, you could hear it fallingin. The water got underneath the banksand, all of a sudden, you’d hear a great‘whoosh’ and in the middle of the nightabout half an acre of soil would fall in theriver and go down the river.

The irony is that more snags in this part ofthe river may have protected the banks andprevented the undermining of the treeroots.

Nonetheless Gary Gibb worries aboutdesnagging – he can see both sides of theargument:

Not so long ago they were pulling all thetrees out to clean the rivers and waterwaysup. It cost a fortune. Now, they’re puttinglogs back in or letting the trees go in there. Itmay be a great thing for the fish habitat. Itmay not be in some ways. It does tend to siltup the rivers, and to stop a lot of flow. Now,depending on what you want: Do you wantto clean the rivers out or keep them flowing?Or, do you want to block ‘em up? It’s goodfor the fish, perhaps, but it’s still got to havea lot of flow. So, it’s good and bad. And theother thing is, of course, a lot of snags. Well,it’s good for the fishing, but not so good forthe boater that wants to go out there andput his boat in there. You gotta try and getaround them and all that but in a fastflowing river, like the Goulburn, it can bedangerous. But, fish do need habitats andthey need breeding places – and it does slow– but ah, what can you say? That’s it. That’sthe way I feel.

Snag FAQs

Natural snags. Photo: Fern Hames.

Why were snags removed?Up until 1995 snags were removed to improvenavigation and because they were thought toincrease erosion and flooding.

Why are snags important?Snags provide habitat for native fish like Murray codand trout cod. Snags are used for shelter, territorialmarkers and as ambush sites. To these species, asnag is home – Murray cod have been recordedmigrating 240km upstream and returning to the samesnag16, and we now know that 80% of Murray cod arefound within 1m of a snag! 17

Do snags cause erosion?In certain instances small scale and short termerosion may occur, but in many cases snags mayreduce erosion and are important for bank stability.

Are snags just thrown in?No. A great deal of scientific and engineering analysisgoes into determining the right position, size, numberand type of snag put back into the river. Permissionfrom State agencies is also needed prior to works.

Making connectionsWorking for fish Wally Cubbin has fished the Goulburn since1958. He’s the Secretary of the NagambieFishing Club and a representative on VRFish,a recreational fisher organisation in Victoria,whose motto is ‘Fish for the Future’. Wallysees advocacy as an important way to worktoward a healthy river and bring back thefish.

I’d been collecting a lot of data on the fishkills over the years from the differentagencies. Dr Paul Sinclair, the Director ofEnvironment Victoria, came to Nagambieand he had a look at it all, he had a look atthe pictures and he said, ‘Would you beinterested in getting the Goulburn ValleyAssociation of Angling Clubs to help with anaudit on Goulburn Murray Water? As to theway that they manage their waterways,ecologically and environmentally?’ And Isaid, ‘Yes, we would. We’d like to do that.’

Fly fisher Mick Hall understands theimportance of habitat, for both native andintroduced game fish. He campaigns forhabitat care and is involved with the NativeFish Strategy people to improve the generalhealth of the river for all fish.

John Douglas (centre) wants to share his childhoodfishing experiences with his own sons. John is shownhere with his brother Ray (front) and Uncle Ian.Photo: Bruce Douglas.

Mick has been an advocate for the ‘Adopt aStream’ program, a Victorian DPI Fisheriesinitiative.

What I envisaged from ‘Adopt a Stream’ wasmaybe getting projects like those being donein the United States. So many of ourscientists just think ‘Fish’ and nothing else.The bottom line is to consider all the lifethat’s in the river. It’s the in stream habitatthat is just so important of the survival ofeverything. The bird life and water fowldisappears with willow removal. You don’tsee them back again ‘til there’s cover backagain. You’ve got to plant so that you’ve gotshaded areas, you’ve got what nature givesyou in mountain streams. ‘Cause that’s theway it survives, if you don’t, it just chokesitself and dies.

Fathers, brothers and sons Fishing has been an important way for JohnDouglas to connect both with nature and withhis two sons. John is both a fish scientist anda passionate recreational fisher. Born in 1960and taught to fish on the Murray River, he hasbeen living in the Alexandra area for most ofhis adult life. He says:

I always had this thing – I liked going fishingwith the old man – so I thought it’d be nice to gofishing with my kids. If they wanted to go, theywent. If they didn’t, I don’t think I forced them.My oldest one is not that keen on it at theminute, but the younger one’s pretty keen. Butthen the older one will come back and he’d belooking at the weather, going, ‘Oh, we shouldsneak down the river.’ So it’s a social thing, wecan catch up and you can stand in the river andhave a fish and chat. So it’s pretty good.

The Goulburn River, with snags and overhangingriparian vegetation – ideal for fish. Photo: Jodi Frawley.

Ron Bain is 92 years old and remembers how,as a young man, he and his brother, fatherand brother in law would pack up the flatbottomed punt and head off fishing.

We’d get the local carrier to put our boats on histruck and go up to Alexandra and then wewould float all the way down the river. We’dspend over a week and that’d be our annualholidays. We’d sleep on the islands in the dayswhen there were islands on the river. And we’dfloat our way down, spinning as we went. Therewere fast rapids in the river too, you know, andby golly, it was good fun. Coming down there.

Fishing from Dhungala In 2004 the Yorta Yorta signed a joint landmanagement agreement with the VictorianGovernment regarding the Barmah MillewaForest areas. The Yorta Yorta connections tothe Goulburn River are deeply felt and whencelebrating this agreement Wolithiga ElderHenry Atkinson talked about the importanceof fishing within connection to country. Likemany landholders, Henry wants people toseek permission to come onto these riverbanks to fish.

I personally am looking forward to the daywhen I can sit on the bank of the mightyDhungala (Murray River) and fish exclusivelyon my own land without the need for a pieceof paper to say what I can and cannot do and

knowing that only my people walk here, sithere and fish here. I’m not saying that I wantothers excluded from the river system but Ijust want a little area where everyone whotreads here has the same thought in theirhearts.15

If we look after the river, the river will look after itself In his social welfare work with the SalvationArmy, 49 year old Daryl Sloan has met manydifferent people who camp along theGoulburn River. These days, the needy andhomeless live in the bush aroundShepparton. But Daryl points out that thereis a long history of riverbank camps –including the 1939 camps of Aboriginalpeople at Mooroopna, Anglo Australianseasonal workers and European backpackersof today.

New Australians and old Australians lived onthe banks, where there was a promise ofseasonal work dependent on irrigation. Thebush offered privacy, warmth from a fire anda place for fishing and other food. But thelack of services mean that these camps stillpollute the river. We need to use somecommon sense about the future. If we lookafter the river, the river will look after itself.

MooroopnaAfter the strike against Government interference atCumeragunja in 1939, a large group of Aboriginalpeople walked off the mission to settle in riverbankcamps along the Goulburn River near Mooroopna.

They built makeshift tents of hessian and tin on 'TheFlats', the low lying land between the river and thehighway and later groups moved over the road toDaish’s paddock. They worked at the Ardmonafactory, the McLennans’ Flour Mill and at farmsoutside of town. Fishing and hunting along the riverprovided food for survival and a place for the mob togather.

Beatrice Aitkinson remembers:‘We had no social services or anything. It washard but happy times. Everyone shared, whetheryou were short of an onion or whatever, youcould sit down and talk'. 8

The 1974 flood was so high it washed away 324houses in Mooroopna. The camp was also inundatedand people had to move to higher ground; rebuildingonce the water receded. This area is now known asRumbalara.8

A postcard showing the Mooroopna Road in flood(no date). Photo source: Wangaratta Library.

Visions for the GoulburnThe fishing people who contributed to thisproject have all talked about their hopes forthe future of the river. Many felt they hadseen some improvements but most don'tfeel the river is as healthy yet as they wouldlike to see it. Each of these fishers suggestedways to help the river and in turn helpprovide healthy habitats for fish.

Ecology and industry At 26 years old Hayley Purbrick is the fifthgeneration of the Purbrick family to live atTahbilk where they have a very successfulwinery and farming business. She grew upfishing in Lake Nagambie with her brother.In recent years, the family has turned theirattention to the Tahbilk wetland that sits inthe centre of the family’s land. It was once awet and dry anabranch of the GoulburnRiver, complete with horseshoe lagoons. TheGoulburn Weir changed this. The weir poolkept the water level in the wetland high andthe horseshoe lagoons filled permanently.

Hayley and her family are helping torehabilitate this precious place. A healthypopulation of threatened freshwater catfishco exist with the ecotourism ventures thatthe family have introduced.

A smoking ceremony at Tahbilk welcoming guests toa 2010 Native Fish Awareness Week event, overseenby Taungurung man, Roy Patterson. Photo: Jodi Frawley.

Hayley would like to see more recognitionthat there has been a generational shift inenvironmental attitudes, particularly, shesays, in relation to river rehabilitation andmanagement.

I’d like to see Nagambie people embracetheir waterways and actually utilise them ina positive way. I think I really appreciate thatwith water, you have to have a balancebetween ecology and recreation. I would liketo see the future of the waterways beingshared properly amongst all parties. Peopleunderestimate how much water thereactually is in Australia and how it can beshared quite easily.

Hayley disagrees with the way the mediapits the environment against economicdevelopment. Instead she thinks that thereis a bright future ahead for our waterways.

It shouldn’t be a competition betweenenvironments and farming because I thinkpeople would find that a lot of young farmersare actually very environmentally aware.They just need to know how much waterthey’re going to get and they’ll work aroundit in an efficient way. I don’t think that thegovernment agencies are talking to the rightpeople when it comes to sharing water.They’re talking to the existing generationand I think the existing generation has donea great job but that the next generation isquite different in their way of thinking. Theyare environmentally aware, and they don’twant to see the waterways lost because theyuse them for fishing and skiing and boatingas well as for irrigation.

Tahbilk Lagoon. Photo: Fern Hames.

State of the river - ‘extremely poor’The Sustainable Rivers Audit (SRA) is an ongoingsystematic assessment of river health of 23 major rivervalleys in the Murray Darling Basin. Environmentalindicators (themes) include hydrology, fish andmacroinvertebrates, which are monitored and willhighlight trends over time.7

The Goulburn Valley was surveyed in 2005. The GoulburnValley fish community was rated as being in ‘ExtremelyPoor Condition’.

Alien species were 63% of the total biomass and 58% oftotal abundance. The fish community had lost most of itsnative species richness and was dominated by alienspecies, mainly trout.

Ron Bain looking at the old Goulburn Bridge, now part ofa local heritage walk. He has seen major changes to theriver, the biggest came with the building of the weir.It used to be a beautiful river, he says. Photo: Jodi Frawley.

Trout FAQs (Salmo trutta brown trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss rainbow trout)

Rainbow trout. Photo: Charlie Carruthers.

Are trout native anywhere in Australia?No. Trout were introduced into Australian waters in the late 1800s. Brown trout are native to Europe andwestern Asia. Rainbow trout are native to North America.

Where are trout found now?Trout are now widely distributed across cooler upland streams within the Murray Darling Basin, particularly inNSW, ACT and Victoria.

Do trout breed or are they all stocked fish?Both. Trout breed very successfully in our waterways and have established self sustaining populations in manyrivers. They are also heavily stocked. There is significant level of investment in trout stocking in both NSW andVictoria.

Why are trout a problem?Predation by trout is known to have had a negative effect on some native fish, for example galaxias, and hasbeen implicated in the decline of other native species.

Bringing back the fishA number of local projects aim to bring thefish back to the rivers of the Murray Darling.These compliment large scale programs suchas the MDBA’s Native Fish Strategy and TheBasin Plan that continue to work with a widerange of stakeholders to ensure positiveoutcomes for the environment and fish ofthe Murray Darling Basin.

a) Holland’s Creek DemonstrationReach

This project is supported by the MDBA'sNative Fish Strategy and managed by theGoulburn Broken CMA and Arthur RylahInstitute (DSE). The project aims to displaythe positive benefits of river rehabilitationfor native fish, particularly the threatenedMacquarie perch (Macquaria australasica).The creek is also highly valued for passiverecreation, water supply and family heritagevalues.

Many actions are being undertakenincluding monitoring of fish populations,water quality and streamside condition andmapping of snags. On ground works haveincluded weed control, fencing, erosioncontrol and revegetation. A CommunityReference Committee, comprisinglandholders and representatives from a

range of organisations, meet regularly.Information sheets, fence signs and awebpage have also been developed andfield days have been held.

To find out more about this project and howyou can get involved, contact the GoulburnBroken CMA on (03) 5820 1100, or visit:www.gbcma.vic.gov.au/hollandscreek

b) The RiverConnect project

This project aims to establish a connectionbetween the Greater Sheppartoncommunity and Broken and Goulburn Rivers.It aims to raise awareness of theenvironmental, cultural, recreational andeconomic value of the rivers. Many groupsare involved in the project including theGreater Shepparton City Council, theGoulburn Broken CMA and other key naturalresource management, Aboriginal andeducational organisations. There are fourworking groups: Communications, AboriginalParticipation, Land Management andEducation.

Regular RiverConnect newsletters provideinformation on current activities.

For more information on the RiverConnectprojects and events contact Council'sCulture and Community Strengthening

branch on (03) 5832 9714 or visit:www.greatershepparton.com.au/council/environment/watermanagement/riverconnect.html

A fly’s life

The mighty ‘Red Tag’ fly. Photo source: Mick Hall.

The Red Tag above is a copy of the original as firstpublished in the 1888 British Angling Files by MichaelTheakston and edited by Francis MWalbran.

First known as the Worcester Gem, it was actuallyWalbran who added this pattern to this book. It wasused as a fly for grayling rather than trout.

It appeared in Australia very early and by the 1920shad developed a strong reputation in Victoria.

When writing of the Goulburn River at Eildon forThe Hardy's Anglers Guide 1937, the famousVictorian fly fisherman G. Reg Lyne states:

In early morning and evening, about a miledownstream from the outlet there is an excellentdry fly rise, the best killing patterns beingWickham's Fancy, Coachman, Royal Coachman,Whirling Dun, Cocky Bondhu and Red Tag.

Text courtesy of Mick Hall.

River resources Native Fish Strategy Coordinator, Victoria Fern Hames:(03) 5772 0273

Goulburn Broken CMA, Shepparton: (03) 5820 1100

Seymour Angling Club: PO Box 898 Seymour 3660 or(03) 5792 3260

Alexandra Angling Club: PO Box 26 Alexandra 3714 or(03) 5772 1773

Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation, Barmah:(03) 5869 3353 or reception@yynac.com.au

Bangarang Goulburn Murray Tribe AboriginalCorporation, Shepparton: marlenea@mcmedia.com.au

Taungurung Clans Aboriginal Corporation, Tarneit:taungurung@gmail.com

Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations:(02) 6051 9948

Nagambie Landcare, Peter Robinson: (03) 5794 2274

Seymour and District Historical Society, Seymour:(03) 5792 2311

Shepparton Heritage Centre, Shepparton:(03) 5821 7717 (after hours)

AbbreviationsCMA Catchment Management Authority

DPI Department of Primary Industries (NSW)

DSE Department of Sustainability and Environment (Vic)

MDBA Murray Darling Basin Authority

About the Talking Fish project The Talking Fish project arose from an increasing realisation that many different groups of people,including fishers, Indigenous communities, tourists and landholders have developed uniquerelationships with the rivers of the Murray Darling Basin. There is also the growing recognition thatthe health of the Murray Darling Basin is at risk. By accessing and recording different people’s storiesabout their experiences of a river, its fish and how both have changed will contribute to our collectiveknowledge and help shape future management decisions. These stories also have the potential to givepeople a sense of just what these magnificent rivers and their fish were once like and could be againwith ongoing rehabilitation efforts.

The Talking Fish project focussed on 12 reaches within the following Basin rivers: Namoi River (NSW),Upper Condamine River (Qld), Katarapko Creek (SA), Upper Murrumbidgee River (NSW / ACT), CulgoaBalonne Rivers (Qld / NSW), Paroo River (Qld), Goulburn River (Vic), Darling and the Great Anabranch

(NSW), Ovens River (Vic), Mainstem Murray River (NSW / Victoria), Darling River (NSW) and TheCoorong and Lower Lakes (SA).

The Talking Fish project is a starting point to share local knowledge and learned experience withothers to improve the health of the Murray – Darling Basin. Project information is available at:www.mdba.gov.au.Note: The term Talking Fish is also being used by the Australian River Restoration Centre as a way of sharingknowledge about people’s connection to fish and waterways.

References1. Hume, S.H. 1966 ‘Hume, Hamilton (1797 1873)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 1. Melbourne University Press, pp 564 565.2. Perry, T.M. 1966 ‘Hovell, William Hilton (1786 1875)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 1. Melbourne University Press, pp 556 557.3. Scott, A. 2005 Historical Evidence of Native Fish in the Murray Darling Basin at the Time of European Settlement from the Diaries of theFirst Explorers.Mildura: CRC for Freshwater Ecolog,.4. The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.: 1848 1954), Friday 8 October 1937, page 125. Murray, S. 1893 Goulburn Weir and Its Dependent System of Works.Melbourne: Victorian Government.6. Beveridge, P. 1889 The Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina. Melbourne: Lowden Publishing Co.7. Davies, P.E., Harris, J.H., Hillman, T.J. and Walker, KF 2008 SRA Report 1: A Report on the Ecological Health of Rivers in the Murray–DarlingBasin, 2004–2007, Canberra: Murray–Darling Basin Ministerial Council.8. The Historical Society of Mooroopna 1989Mooroopna to 1988,Mooroopna: The Historical Society of Mooroopna.9. Koehn, J. 2001 ‘Ecological impacts of cold water releases on fish and ecosystem processes’ in B. Phillips (ed) Thermal Pollution of the MDBWaterways, Workshop held at Lake Hume 18 19 June 2001, pp 7 11.10. Ford, M.L. 1981 Flour Mills and Millers of the Goulburn Valley 1858 1980, Murchison.11. Ryan, T., Webb, A., Lennie, R. and Lyon, J. 2001 Status of cold water releases from Victorian dams, Arthur Rylah Institute.12. Koehn, J., Brumley, A. and Gehrke, P. 2000Managing the impacts of carp, Canberra: Bureau of Rural Sciences.13. Lintermans, M. 2007 Fishes of the Murray Darling Basin: An introductory guide, Canberra: MDBC.14. Atkinson, W. 2008 ‘The schools of human experience’, in Perkins, R. and Langton, M. (eds) First Australians, Melbourne: The MiegunyahPress, page 287.15. Aitkinson, H. 2004 ‘Yorta Yorta Co Operative Land Management Agreement: Impact on the Yorta Yorta Nation’, Indigenous Law Bulletin6, no. 5.16. Koehn, J. 2001 ‘Habitats and movements of freshwater fish in the Murray Darling Basin’ in The Status of the Murray cod in the MurrayDarling Basin, Canberra: University of Canberra.17. Koehn, J. and Nicol, S. 1998 ‘Habitat and movement requirements of fish’, in proc. 1998 Riverine Environmental Forum.Murray DarlingBasin Commission, pp 1 6.All fish fact boxes: Lintermans, M. 2007 Fishes of the Murray Darling Basin: An introductory guide, Canberra: Murray Darling BasinCommission.

Some fish of the Goulburn River Murray cod / Cod Trout cod / Bluenose cod Blackfish / Slippery / Muddy

Golden perch / Yellowbelly / Callop Catfish / Eeltail catfish / Jewie Yabby / Craybob

Native

(Not

toscale)

Silver perch / Murray bream / Grunter Macquarie perch / Black bream / White eye Murray cray / Spiny cray

Introd

uced

(Not

toscale) Rainbow trout / Brown trout European carp / Common carp Redfin / English perch